Periander of Corinth of the Seven Sages

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tektamos
November 08, 2009

Periander (Greek: Περίανδρος) was the second tyrant of Corinth, Greece in the 7th century BC. He was the son of the first tyrant, Cypselus. Periander succeeded his father in 627 BC.

He upgraded Corinth's port, and built a ramp across the Isthmus of Corinth so that ships could be dragged across (the Diolkos), avoiding the sea route around the Peloponnese. The money gained from the diolkos allowed Periander to abolish taxes in Corinth. However, Periander was later considered the typical evil tyrant (for example, by Aristotle). Herodotus says he learned his "savagery" from Thrasybulus, the tyrant of Miletus, who instructed Periander to get rid of anyone who could conceivably take power from him. Among his acts were sending young boys from Corcyra to be castrated in Lydia (who are reputed to have escaped and be rescued by the Samians), and the murder (and possible necrophiliac rape) of his own wife, Melissa. Abhorrence for this act was so intense that it was described only metaphorically at the time: "Periander baked his bread in a cold oven" (Herodotus, V 91-93). Their son Lycophron discovered that his father was the murderer, so Periander exiled him from Corinth and forbade any of his subjects to shelter him. Periander later tried to reconcile with Lycophron, but Lycophron refused to return unless Periander abdicated; however, the inhabitants of Corcyra killed Lycophron to prevent Periander from arriving.

Periander's nephew Psammetichus succeeded him as tyrant of Corinth but Psammetichus' rule only lasted three years and he was the last of the Cypselid dynasty. Periander was listed by most authors as one of the Seven Sages of Greece. According to Herodotus, Periander also held the musical contest that was won by the poet Arion. Periander invented the Railway albeit horse-drawn, aforementioned as the "Diolkos".

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